Cell construction



R; M. STEWART CELL CONSTRUCTION June 1, 1943.

3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Feb. 27, 1942 June 1 l943 R, M. sTl-:wAR-r 2,320,806

CELL CONSTRUCTION Filed Feb. 2v, 1942 s sheets-sheet 2 if ff IIIIIIII June 1, 1943. R, M. STEWART 2,320,806

- CELL CONSTRUCTION Filed Feb. 27, 1942 s sheets-sheet s A l l 33 INVENToR.

Patented June 1, 1943 -UNlTED STATES PATENT YOFFICE CELL CONSTRUCTION Robert M. Stewart, Knoxville, Tenn., assigner to Electro Manganese Corporation, Minneapolis, Minn., a corporation of Delaware Application February Z7, 194,2, Serial No. 432,599

2 Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in the electrowinning of manganese.

Inthis art, electrolytic cells are employed com-4 of liquid in the catholyte chambers continuously` tends to increase however, because transfer of liquid by osmosis through the diaphragm is not sufficiently rapid to maintain the Volume constant and the practice hasj been to discharge the excess volume from the catholyte chambers directly into the anolyte. Under these conditions, the rate of flow of catholyte through the catholyte chamber is limited because a rapid now would necessarily cause the discharge into the anolyte of large volumes of catholyte liquid having a high pH and a high manganese con centration, both of which circumstances would be highly disadvantageous. having a high pH into the anolyte would seriously disturb the desired pH conditions therein and the loss of manganese occasioned by the discharge from the catholyte to the anolyte of catholyte having a high concentration of manganese would result in serious inefficiency. The catholyte liquid is commonly fed at the top of the catholyte chamber and withdrawn at the bot-V .of the manganese stripped from the catholyte per liter or other unit volume of catholyte may be maintained so low that chemical and electrical conditions within the catholyte and The discharge of liquid throughout all parts thereof and over the entire,

surface of the cathode may be maintained within desired and controlled narrow ranges.

It is an object of the present invention to 5'; provide apparatus which will facilitate such recirculation.

It is a further object of the invention to provide an improved construction for cells employed in the electrowinning of manganese.,v

The invention will be defined in the claims and in order to provide a specific illustration ofthe principles thereof the following description is given in conjunction with the drawings in which Eig. l shows diagrammatically a perspective view of a cell; Y Y

Fig. llis a plan View thereof; Y Fig. 2 is a section on the line 2-2 of Fig. 4; Fig. 3 is a section on the line 3--3 of Fig, 4,

Referring to the drawings, each diaphragm or catholyte chamberY I comprises two canvassde,

walls 2 secured to two wood end walls 3 and 4 and a bottom 5, and rest upon the bottom of the cell TI which may be made of wood with an inside lining of acid-resisting material such as suitable, lead alloy. Extending transversely across and` supported upon the upper of one series of end.

walls is the anode insulator strip 8 and the cathode bus bar 9, the latter of which may be triangular in cross section as shown. Extending transversely across the opposite series of .end walls 4 of the diaphragm chambers and similarly supported thereon is the cathode insulator strip- I I upon which rests the anode bus bar I2 which also may have a triangular cross section as shown. The anodes Ill may be made from lead steel alloy and are suspended by c'onducting supports I8 from cross bars 2D, which maybe aluminum, resting upon and supported by the cathode bus bar 9 and the cathode insulator I`I respectively. The anode and cathode bus bars are connected by suitableleads 2| and`22 lto a source of direct current.

A manifold 24, provided with exible draw-f offs 25 for conduits, supplies catholyte liquid to eac-hof the diaphragm or catholyte chambers I. Channels 21 within each of the end walls 3 are provided, having entrance ports 28 communicating with the catholyte chamber I adjacent they bottom thereof as shown. Goose necks 30 are connected to each of said channels 21 at the top thereof, these goose necks 3l) extending over and delivering into the trough or launder 32 secured to the inside of the cell 1. The latter may be made of wood with an interior lead lining and the launder 32 may be made of an acid-resisting lead alloy. Thus the level of the catholyte is determined by the height of the goose necks 30. The launder 32 is inclined from one end of the cell to the other to an extent suicient to provide for gravity flow of the catholyte which is withdrawn from the launder 32 through the pipe 33 for recirculation purposes.

At the end 34 of the cell and adjacent the ltop thereof, an anolyte intake or weir 35 is provided and at the other end 36 of the cell an anolyte overflow or weir 31 is provided. Each of these weirs 35 and 3l may be constructed of wood lined with acid-resistant lead. The height of the bottom wall 40 of the anolyte overflow Weir 31 from the bottom of the cell determines the level of anolyte liquid in the cell and this -height is adjusted in such a way as to maintain the level of the anolyte below the top ofthe launder 32 in order to prevent mutual contamination of the catholyte and anolyte.

As previously mentioned, one of the objects of the invention and the above-described structurev illustratedthereof'is to facilitate the recirculation of the catholyte. For this purpose, it is necessarytto manifold the catholyte from the several catholyte chambers and prior to the present invention numerous attempts were made to provide a satisfactory structure, all of which however were unsatisfactory.

The rst attempt involved the use of goose necks or siphon connections from the individual catholyte chambers, which connections rose above the'walls of the tank to points outside where'tliese connections in turn discharged either into an open launder or a, closed manifold. There. were at least two diiculties with this structure. In the rst place, it. was difficult to maintain the siphon ilo'w of liquid through these connections into the manifold and in the second place whenthe flow was satisfactorily maintained electrical short circuits occurred due to the electrical path provided by the liquid in these connections and the manifold. In order to do away with the sphons, it was attempted to construct a closed catholyte manifold inside the cell connected to the catholyte chambers by'xed connections. This had the'difliculty that whenever it became necessary to remove the catholyte compartment from the cell it was necessary to disconnect these connections and furthermore whenever breakage or leakage occurred there was mutual contamination of catholyte and anolyte. An attempt was then made to construct a manifold outside the cell, communicating with the catholyte chambers not by siphons but by connections passing from the catholyte compartments through the side walls of the cell into the outside manifold. Here again the results were unsatisfactory because of the necessity of disconnecting these fixed connections whenever it became necessary to removethe catholyte compartment from the cell and furthermore leaks readily occurred due to the difficulty of securing leakage-proof connections through the side walls and here again breakage or leakage inthe lxed connections between the catholyte compartment and the walls of the ce11 caused mutual contamination of catholyte and anolyte.

It will be noted that the present invention overcomes these diiiiculties. The connection between the catholyte compartment and the launder is not fixed so that the catholyte compartment can readily be lifted from the cell whenever desired without disconnecting any connections. Since there is no fixed connection between the catholyte chamber and the launder,

-there is little or no danger of leakage and the consequent mutual contamination of catholyte and anolyte.

The launder is inside the cell so that no connections through the side walls of the cell are-necessary. The result is a simplified structure which operates satisfactorily, enables the successful manifolding of the catholytes for purposes of recirculation and facilitates removal of the catholyte chambers when desired.

What I claim is:

1. In Va cell for the electrowinning of manganese, said cell having end walls and side walls andcontai'ning a series of catholyte chambers, eachA of said chambers being separate from the c'ell'a-ndhavingside walls and end'walls, said chambers being arranged side by side and in spaced' relation to each other with the side Walls thereof extending transverse to the sidewalls of the cell, at least one end wall of veach chamber being. in spaced relation to the adjacent side Wall of'the cell, the walls of the chamber and` the walls ofthe cell defming'an anolyte chamber to contain anolyte liquid; a trough secured to the interior of said side wall of the cell adjacent the top Vof said wall; means separate from said troughto deliver catholyte liquid from each of said catholyte chambers into said trough; means to'mainta'in the level of anolyte liquid in the cell ata levelin relation to said trough to prevent ingress of anolyte liquid into said trough, and

means to remove catholyte liquid from' saidtrough.

2.'In an electrolytic cell, said cell having end walls and side walls and containing a series of catholyte chambers, each of which chambers is adapted to contain a cathode and catholyte liquid, isseparate from said cell, has end walls andside Walls and a discharge outlet for catholyte liquid adjacent the top of said end wall; said catholyte chambers being arranged side by side in the cell, the adjacent side walls'of said catholyte chambers being in spaced relation and delining with each other and with the walls ofthe cell a series of anolyte chambers adapted to contain anolyte liquid and an anode; a catholyte collecting trough extending longitudinally of a sideA wall of the cell and transversely in respect of the side walls of the catholyte chambers and adjacent to the said catholyte discharge outlets, and positioned adjacent the top of said side wall, said discharge outlets being separate from and adapted Vto discharge catholyte liquid into said trough, means to maintain the level of anolyte liquid inthe anolyte chambers at a level in relation tosaidr trough to prevent ingress of anolyte liquid into said trough, and means to remove catholyte liquid from said trough.

ROBERT M. STEWART. 

